1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to a video camera and a camera-integrated video recorder apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, so-called camera-integrated video recorders, each of which is arranged in such a manner that an image sensing portion (a camera portion) and a recorder portion are positioned in a single casing, have been widely used because they can be easily handled and they have excellent mobility due to their compact size and light weight. In order to further facilitate handling, a structure has been disclosed in which a viewfinder portion is arranged to be movable. Furthermore, another structure has been disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,147, U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,987 filed on Nov. 3, 1988. According to the disclosure, an individual casing which accommodates a power source portion and a viewfinder portion and a casing (the body) which accommodates the camera portion and the recorder portion are coupled to each other in such a manner that they can rotate with respect to each other around a common axis and the angle made by the lens portion and the grip portion (the casing accommodating the power source portion and the view finder portion can be optionally changed when the grip portion is rotated so that the attention of the user can be freed.
Although handling can be facilitated by arranging the grip portion to be movable in the manner of the conventional camera-integrated video recorders, a further improvement has been desired because they cannot meet all of the conditions such as all of the photographing conditions, the posture of the user, the physique of the user and the like. In addition, since the grip portion is arranged to be movable, it is difficult to store depending upon the position of the grip portion. Furthermore, a problem in terms of the accommodation space remains unsolved.